Russia has a high economic potential, which is made up of a wide raw material base, the presence of vast territories and human resources. However, in the modern world, the country is far from the highest position in terms of the economy, yielding to the recognized leaders in a number of important indicators.
Russia's economy against the background of other states
One of the most important economic indicators that gives an idea of the level of development of a country is the volume of gross domestic product (GDP). We are talking about the total cost of all goods and services produced in the state for the year. Over the last decade of the last century, Russia's GDP has steadily decreased, dropping to $ 650 billion. The country has slipped on this indicator to about twelfth place in the world.
In terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Russian Federation in the 90s was ahead of about fifty states. The most developed countries in this respect - the USA, Japan and Switzerland - had at least 20 thousand dollars per capita, while in Russia at the turn of the century this parameter was about 3.5 thousand dollars.
Recently, the situation in the country's economy has begun to level out. According to regular research conducted by the World Bank, by 2013 Russia managed to take the fifth place in the ranking of world economies. Experts now compare the GDP of Russia with the GDP of Germany. According to this indicator, the Russian Federation is still ahead of the United States, China, India and Japan.
Features of the economic development of Russia
When assessing the position of any country in the structure of the world economy, economists pay special attention to the level of labor productivity. It is understood as the volume of products produced per employee. For industry, labor productivity in Russia is about four times lower than in the United States of America.
There is another important assessment category - the sectoral structure of the national economy. Here, first of all, the ratio between the number of people employed in the production and non-production spheres is assessed. Recently, the growth in labor productivity in developed countries has led to the transition of a significant part of the working-age population to the non-productive sphere. This is usually regarded as an indicator indicating a high level of economic development. Russia is distinguished by a high proportion of those industries that are engaged in production, which indicates insufficient economic development.
The calculations of the rating agencies show that at present Russia can in no way be classified as an economically developed country. The country occupies leading positions only in some areas of economic activity. These include aircraft construction, space exploration, weapons production, and hydrocarbon production.
Unfortunately, the leading world powers continue to assign Russia the role of a storehouse of minerals, the purpose of which is to provide the most prosperous countries with the most popular resources. Apparently, only a breakthrough in the field of industrial production and high technologies, which will allow the country to get out of dependence on raw materials and take its rightful place in the world economy, can change the current state of affairs.
